Thursday, July 23, 2009

Farm to Table, Part 1

Today Adelaide and I returned to Farm Kids at South 47 Farm for another wonderful morning of exploring. She wanted to go off with the group of kids and the farmer without me, so I got a knife and scissors from the farmers at the farm stand and headed out into the U-pick veggies with my bags. I had a menu in mind for the weekend meal I'm preparing (needed to be vegan and wheat-free to accommodate the group I'll be feeding) but I also knew that the farm would tell me what we should be eating right now. For example, these were a must:
Next was some rainbow chard and cilantro. Lucky for me, the farm stand had cukes, onions, and a few other items ready even though U-Pick isn't available on them yet. When Adelaide was done she joined me at the berries, and then we went to see the animals. She got to pet a chicken and feed the goats and alpacas, and hold a warm fresh egg.








When we got home, we started cooking together. Adelaide is a great sous-chef, doing all the tasks like peeling garlic, shelling peas, and chopping anything that can be chopped with a butter knife. She also likes to pull a chair into the kitchen to get a top-down view of things cooking on the stove, blending, or getting a rinse in the sink.













I enjoy watching her interact with good food and learn some of the basics of cooking. Of course, I do think the chocolate mousse preparation was her favorite. She does a fine job of clean-up on spoons and bowls when chocolate is involved.The rest of the prep involved either sharp knives or the stove and oven, so I sent my sous-chef off to do some art and listen to her book on cd while I moved on to the next steps. I will post part 2 with photos and the menu separately, and then perhaps if the mood is right on Saturday I will add a part 3 with the actual meal. Given that it will be 8 hours of yoga into a yoga retreat and beach walking weekend, I may be too mellow, tired and/or hungry to bother getting any photos!

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